Maersk Fluid Technology outlines lube- and bunker-saving benefits of BOB system in video

BOB is said to slash lube consumption by up to 40% and fuel use by up to 1.5%.

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Updated on 23 Aug 2017 13:55 GMT

Maersk Fluid Technology (MFT) has today launched a new video designed to inform the industry about its SEA-Mate Blending-on-Board (BOB) lubrication system, which is said to slash lube oil consumption by up to 40 percent and reduce fuel use by up to 1.5 percent.

In the new animated video, a ship engineer explains how before introducing BOB, "all we could do in the old days was to have the different cylinder oils we needed on board in separate tanks. And once in a while, add a bit of fresh system oil to the engine sump to compensate for the system oil that was consumed during operation".

The engineering officer notes that, over time, the system oil would become thicker, the additives inactive, and this would lead to more friction, wear, energy loss and contamination, which in turn would result in breakdowns in the hydraulic system.

Additionally, the cylinder oil was "expensive and rarely matched the fuel", and "the lube system had to over-lubricate to keep cold corrosion at bay", he observes.

With the new BOB system, the video explains that a ship can utilize the in-use system oil as a base oil and blend with a high BN cylinder oil product, just like onshore facilities.

BOB is designed to ensure that the cylinder oil matches the fuel composition. Also, the cylinder lubrication feed rate is fixed at the optimal minimum feed; instead of increasing the feed rate, BOB adjusts the blend composition seamlessly. This is said to save roughly 40 percent of cylinder oil composition and the set-up makes it possible to add fresh system oil to the engine sump regularly, which improves system oil properties such as detergency and anti-wear.

With system oil being continuously refreshed, particles and deposits are no longer accumulated in the engine and system oil viscosity is brought back to original levels. As a result, separator and preheater run more efficiently, reducing sludge generated and energy consumed, the video explains.

The system set-up is designed to prevent a lot of system oil from being discarded as sludge; and optimized separator operation and improved system oil viscosity save energy - up to 1.5 percent in fuel consumption, according to MFT.